Button Eyes
by Sakaro Devanti Foresta
Summary: At first, it had seemed that we were going to live the same boring life as we were leading in Michigan. Even our new school seemed boring. But, as time went by, we learnt that the house is far from ordinary and dull. You know the saying, "be careful what you wish for"? The story starts when we found that little pink door hidden under the wallpaper in the drawing room….
1. Prologue: Be Careful What You Wish For

Button Eyes

_**Prologue **_

_Careful What You Wish For _

My name is Elizabeth Anne Jones, and this is my story.

Most everyone longs for a less ordinary life. A life of danger, fun and adventure. Everyone wants to live life to the full. No one wants to be _ordinary_.

My twin sister Coraline and I were two such people.

When we were ten, our parents, who were garden cataloguists, decided to move. Or, rather, their boss decided that we should move. We wanted somewhere with a big garden ("We", being Coraline and I). My parents wanted a flat. So we compromised.

We ended up moving into the Pink Palace; an old Victorian house which was divided into four different flats. We got one of the landing flats (the other one was empty), and we had neighbours down in the basement and in the attic. The garden was huge, but empty, with no life. We had an old tennis court that seemed decayed with time.

At first, it had seemed that we were going to live the same boring life as we were leading in Michigan. Even our new school seemed boring.

But, as time went by, we learnt that the house is far from ordinary and dull.

You know the saying, "_be careful what you wished for"_?

The story starts when we found that little pink door hidden under the wallpaper in the drawing room….


	2. Chapter 1: Exploring The Garden

Button Eyes

_**Chapter 1 **_

_Exploring the Garden_

"Get out of the way, you two," our mother ordered as she helped unload the moving van. "If you're not going to help us unload, you might as well make it easier for us."

So we stepped out of the house. Coraline, my sister, had her blue hair cut in a bob, were mine was longer and tied back in a ponytail. She was wearing a outfit consisting of a yellow raincoat, jeans and boots while I chose to wear my green raincoat and boots, with only the skirt of my dress and the leggings I wore beneath it showing.

We walked down the porch steps and to the garden gate. Coraline paused then, before breaking a forked branch off a bush nearby. "Coraline, what _are _doing?"

She grinned, and replied, "Dowsing for water."

"But it looks like it's gonna rain any minute now," I pointed out, looking up anxiously at the sky. I really hoped it wouldn't, actually. Rain means going back to being bored inside.

Coraline pushed open the rusted old gate that leads to the garden. "Are you coming, Liz? Or would you rather stay inside?"

"Anything is better than inside," I said, and followed my sister through the gate.

Soon, we found a fish pond in the garden.

"It's not a well, but it is water," I said smugly, and Coraline rolled her eyes in annoyance, punching my shoulder. Then she got on her knees, looking for something we could use back in the house or add to her collection. Sure enough, she picks up an old turtle shell. After raping on it with her knuckles to make sure it was empty, she shoved it into her pocket. "Let's go."

After exploring the garden we found the back gate, which lead to the dusty trial winding up the nearby hills. Coraline opens it. A chilly breeze whipped around us, making me shiver, "Uh, Cora? Is it a good idea to wander off right now? If we get caught out in the rain, Mom won't like it."

"We won't go off too far," Coraline said, stepping out of the gate and leaving me no choice but to follow her. The sky was dark with a brooding storm as we head up the hillside path. Suddenly, Coraline stopped as a crunching noise was heard.

"What was that?" I looked down to see that Coraline had stepped on an old railroad tie, the wood crushed beneath her foot. But then I pick up on another noise. It sounded like something was moving on the ledge above us. Tiny rocks fell down, and Coraline moved her head to avoid them. Unnerved, I called out, "Hello? Is anyone up there?"

"It's nothing, Liz," Coraline said.

Not convinced, I picked up a stone and threw it up and over the ledge….and then a pain filled shriek filled the air. Screaming we both ran.

_What was that? Animal? Human? I couldn't tell. But I'm not about to stick around and find out! _We raced past an old tractor which was decayed as the gates in our new garden, and into an orchard. Halfway through the old apple trees I heard Coraline stumble and briefly stopped to see if she was alright – only for her to run past me and ahead. She'd nearly tripped on an old harvest cart.

I followed her out of the orchard and into a clearing, and nearly ran into her when she'd stopped, panting, near an old stump next to a ring of toadstools, in which we were standing. Panting heavily, we looked around for any sign of what made that screech sound.

"Did you think we lost it?" Coraline asked after a minutes of eerie silence.

I was about to reply, when suddenly a black shadow darted past us, causing us both to cry out in alarm. Coraline whirled around to see -


	3. Chapter 2: Wybie Lovat

Button Eyes

_**Chapter 2**_

_Wybie Lovat_

_I was about to reply, when suddenly a black shadow darted past us, causing us both to cry out in alarm. Coraline whirled around to see -_

A black cat jumped onto the stump behind us. I sighed in relief when I noticed that it was just a cat, and not some monster come to drag us to its lair for dinner.

"You scared us to _death, _you mangy thing!" Coraline exclaimed, annoyed at the fact that the cat wasn't even something worth being scared of. The cat glares at us with glowing opal eyes, and growls lowly. "Look, we're only looking for an old well. Know it?"

I was just about to point out that she was talking to a cat and that cats do not talk when the cat blinked slowly, as if in reply to my sister's question. _That's just a little bit creepy…_

"Not talking, huh?"

"Well duh, it's a cat," I said, dismissing all thoughts of the cat's blinking as a reply. It was just a cat, and cats can't understand us to that point, can they?

The wind picks up again, and I shivered. Coraline lifted her "dowsing rod" into the air and, tracing a figure eight in the air above her, she chanted, "Magic dowser…magic dowser…show me the well!"

I was surprised when something happened, although it hadn't had anything to do with dowsing. A loud honking sound filled the air, causing both of us to look up to the top of the hill. We screamed. There, on top of the hill, was a mysterious figure, wearing a skull mask and skeleton gloves, sitting astride a bike. He revved his bike, then swoops down the steep drop towards us.

Coraline attempted to use her dowser to defend herself, "Get away from me!"

It was no use. He easily snatched the branch from Coraline's hands and knocked her to the ground. I was at her side in two seconds flat, getting to my knees and helping Coraline into a sitting position. She looked alright, probably just a little bruised, but all right. We gazed up in fear the the figure above us. Thunder clashed above us as he seemed to look us over.

And then, the mask came off, revealing a boy with curly hair at least two years older. He examined Coraline's dowser. "Let me guess, you're from Texas or Utah; someplace dried out or barren, right? I've heard about water witching before, but it doesn't make sense. I mean, it's just an ordinary branch -"

"It's a dowsing rod!" Coraline snatched the branch back, before she punched him in the shoulder. Hard. "And we don't like being stalked, not by psycho-nerds _or _their cats!" She glared at the cat for emphasis.

The boy nervously leaned over to scratch the cat behind his ears, "He's not really my cat; he's kinda feral, you know, wild? Of course, I do feed him every night, and sometimes he'll come in my window and bring me little dead things."

_Feral? More like domesticated. _"Look," I began, "We're from Pontiac."

"Huh?"

"Michigan," I added, annoyed, "And if my sister's a 'water witch'," I made quotation marks with my fingers, "Then where's the secret well?" I stomped my feet as Coraline nodded, standing right next to me.

"You stomp too hard and you'll fall in it." Both of us automatically jump back. The boy scrapes at the ground, revealing a circular covering made of wooden planks. He wedges a fallen branch under one side, and, using a rock for the fulcrum, pries up the covering. "See? Supposed to be so deep that if you fell to the bottom and looked up, you'd see a sky full of stars in the middle of the day."

"Huh." Coraline's frown relaxed.

"Surprised she'd let you guys move in," he jerks his head in the direction of the Pink Palace, "My grandma owes the Pink Palace. Won't rent to people with kids."

"What do you mean?" I asked. _Does she not like kids, or something?_

"I'm not supposed to talk about it," he said, then changes the subject, "I'm Wybie. Wybie Lovat."

"Wybie?" Coraline said sceptically.

"Short for Wyborne. Not my idea, of course. What'd you two get saddled with?"

I wasn't saddled with anything," Coraline huffed, "It's Coraline. Coraline Jones."

"And I'm Elizabeth," I huffed, "But most everyone calls me Liz."

"You know, it's not real scientific, but I've read that an ordinary name like Caroline can lead to people having ordinary expectations of a person."

Coraline glared at him for this comment – it was far from what a person would consider a complement. And he got her name wrong. I knew that she absolutely detested people when they do that. A few moments later, I heard a voice in the distance, calling Wybie's name.

"I think I heard someone calling for you," I stated feeling as dark as my sister looked.

"Huh?" He looked confused, "I didn't hear anything – "

"Oh, we definitely heard someone," Coraline sneered, "_Why-were-you-born_."

A distant sound reached my ears, sounding like one of those old dinner bells, and then the voice repeated itself. This time, he heard it too, because he threw his hands up in semi-surrender and forced a chuckle, muttering the word 'Grandma' under his breath. Then he added to us, "Well, nice to meet a pair of Michigan water witches," he picked up his bike and wheels it around, "but I'd wear gloves next time."

"Why?" Coraline was still glaring.

Wybie pointed to the dowsing rod still held in my sister's hands, "Ya know that dowsing rod of yours? It's poison oak."

She shrieks in alarm as she dropped the stick and Wybie left on his bike. I couldn't help but giggle at her mistake, and she glared at me in return, before blowing a raspberry at the 'feral' cat, which shook its head with a look that was almost pitying before it stalked away.

I watched as Coraline found a pebble, which she dropped through the knothole in the well's covering. She stays bent over, counting until she heard a silent plop at the bottom of the well. And then, it began to rain…


End file.
